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A Far West Side woman reported a scam last week that the federal government has warned about
because it so often targets sellers on Craigslist and other websites.

The woman said that a potential customer wanted to buy an item she was selling — the official
report does not name the item — for $97. The customer sent what appeared to be a cashier’s check
for $1,970 to pay for it.

The customer asked the woman to keep $97, then to send the “change” back. The woman phoned
Columbus police instead.

The Federal Trade Commission calls this a “check overpayment scam.” The check is fake but looks
convincing to the seller and bank tellers. The seller cashes the check and sends the overpayment
back.

When the check eventually bounces, the seller is stuck for the entire amount.

The commission recommends never accepting a check for more than your selling price. Other tips
about Internet buying and selling can be found at
onguardonline.gov.

No charges have been filed in the local case.

• • •

Columbus police learned of a drug transaction last Tuesday after the buyer reported he had been
threatened.

A Downtown man said he owed $30 for marijuana to another man identified only as “Detroit.”
Detroit threatened the man with a gun to try to get him to pay. But the man didn’t have any
money.

The buyer told all of this to an officer. No arrests were made concerning the threat, but the
buyer does have charges pending against him for possessing drug paraphernalia.

Instead of calling the cops, as was the case with last week’s neighbors, Dan Bartosic resorted
to poetry.

Bartosic, owner of Bart’s Cleaners in Clintonville, said that he stepped in a pile not long
after buying his first house. He was angry but channeled that anger into literature, inspired by
Robert Frost’s
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Here are the first lines of
Stopping Off to Poo While His Lawn Is Greening, by Dan Bartosic:

Whose poo is this, I think I know.

The dog lives down the street, you know.

I did not see him stopping here

To plant his rump and then to go.

My little foot must think it queer

To step upon his prize right here;

Between the walk and thriving shrub

The darkest poo I’ve seen this year ...

It goes on. Bartosic said he once submitted it to
Reader’s Digest, but he was rejected.